Multichannel publishing of statistics (electronic publications and database) - Finnish experience Seminar on dissemination of statistics and launching a new web solution in NBS, Moldova Chisinau, 27. May 2010 Markku Huttunen

Markku Huttunen Changing over from a printed statistical system to an electronic one Statistical information has been reported, released and disseminated in the form of printed publications Statistics Finlands oldest statistical publication series has been published for over 250 years (>)> Internet has put the traditional way of reporting, publishing and disseminating statistical information in turmoil Traditional form of publishing is disappearing (=tables and the information needed in their interpretation in one volume in a publication series of official statistics)

Markku Huttunen Common Structure of Statistical Information (CoSSI) The point of departure in the CoSSI was an (infological) analysis of the information being considered. The conclusion from the analysis was that although in practice the definition of statistical information has varied according to a given situation and application, in reality statistical information has a certain simplifiable and acceptable universal structure. The CoSSI describes the general structure that is not dependent on the situation of the statistical information presented in differing formats. => CoSSI defines the structures of statistical data, metadata and publications (>)>

Markku Huttunen Dissemination process - Office97 Figure: Harri Lehtinen

Markku Huttunen XML based dissemination process - XML and PC-Axis Figure: Harri Lehtinen

Markku Huttunen Archiving of an electronic statistical publication How will the statistical information published today only in electronic format be available in 10 or 30 years time? In CoSSI model the XML file of the publication contains the information content, the statistical metadata and the publication metadata in the desired languages in one XML file -> archived in the eXist XML database Keeping published publications permanently accessible to users is an essential element of a good information service in time (>)>

Markku Huttunen Roles of an electronic statistical publication and a table database (1) Tables in databases are different than tables in publications (printed or electronic) Database tables are not archived as tables published in printed, HTML or PDF publications are In database tables, data on older observations are always published according to the latest situation Linking an electronic publication to the related database tables is a problem: data only correspond with each other at the moment of publishing Picture: Harri Lehtinen

Markku Huttunen Roles of an electronic statistical publication and table database (2) At Statistics Finland, tables in PX-Web database are not linked to any other background database: PX-Web database builds up on the server from published PC-Axis files In the XML publishing system PC-Axis files published in the PX-Web server are saved into a directory of statistics Publications and related database tables are archived The electronic publications and the related database tables (in PC-Axis format) are archived unchanged -> two advantages: 1) it makes sense to link the tables published in the database to the publication 2) an archive is created for the tables published in the PX-Web database (>)>

Markku Huttunen New practices for releasing statistics Statistical releases 650 / year (FIN, SWE), 350 (ENG)FINSWEENG The objectives and requirements of the XML publishing process under construction were taken into account e.g. archiving and multichannel distribution Statistics Finlands XML-based publishing system over one thousand XML-publication titles are produced in May 2010 from 200 statistics 150 use the XML-publication process

Markku Huttunen Redesigning of publications Old publishing process (Office97) one statistics publishes 1) a statistical release (minimum) 2 ) printed publication 3) tables in statistical database (StatFin/StatLine) all produced using different production processess, different dissemination channels and with different content New publishing process (XML and PC-Axis) one statistics publishes 1) a statistical release (minimum) 2) electronic publication (+ print) 3) tables in statistical database (StatFin/PX-Web) statistical release and publication (1 and 2) have merged into one entity

Markku Huttunen Basic publication from statistics The role is to release basic data on the official statistics An entity that describes a single set of statistics at a certain reference time statistical release, a more extensive text section, table and figure annexes and a standardised quality description The objective is to transfer the basic publications from statistics comprehensively into the new XML-based publishing process

Markku Huttunen Redesigning tables The role of tables in a basic publication from a set of statistic is to describe the key points in a compact way Even though PDF publications are also created for multichannel distribution, the main principle is electronic first Tables must function properly in HTML format, so they have to be small and deal with only one subject usability and space (>)>

Markku Huttunen Figure: Jaakko Laakso

Markku Huttunen Switching over from old-style printed publications to electronic publishing Majority of the tables in publications, which are larger than a single A4-sized page, will be transferred to the database The basic publication from a set of statistics is divided into electronic content published online, with two different formats and user interfaces (HTML and PDF) + tables published in a statistics database

Markku Huttunen Sources Common Structure of Statistical Information (CoSSI).